Street-indicator.



No. 886,166. PATENTED Nov. 20, 1906.

' J. W. WILLSON.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLTJ'ATION ITILED FEB. 1. 1906.

. I i l l I I I t E 1 l I l l I I a I I I 1 l I I I A TTORNE Y5 THE NORRIS PETERS co, waswmanm, p. c.

JOHN W. WILLSON, GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS. r

STREET-INDICATOR.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Nov. 20, 1906.

Application'filed February 7,1906. Serial No. 299,980.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. WILLSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Granite City, in the county of Madison and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful and simplify the construction and increase the efliciency of devices of this character.

With these and other objects in view,

which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction,

as hereinafter fully described and claimed:

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of the embodiment of the invention capable of carrying the same into practical operation, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention withinthe scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure '1 is a side elevation, partly in'section, of the improved device. front of the casing removed and the casing partly in section; Fig. 3 is a detail view, on a reduced scale, of a portion of a street-car,

trolley-wire, and trolley mechanism with the.

improved devices applied thereto. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the trolley-head and a portion of the trolley-wire with the circuitclosing mechanism attached thereto. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of a portion of the combined shipper-lever and circuitcloser.

The improved device may be applied to any of the various forms of e1ectricallyoperated cars, but for the purpose of illustration is shown applied to a car operated from an overhead trolley-line of the usual construction, the car-body being represented at 10, the trolley-pole at 11, the trolley-head at 12, the trolley wheel at 13, and the trolley conductor-wire at 14, these parts being of the Fig. 2 is a frontelevation with the ping-places, the object to be hereinafter eX- plained. e

The indicating devices are inclosed in a casing 15, arranged at a convenient point within the car, preferably at one end, as shown in Fig. 3, and within view of the passengers.

The improved indicating mechanism consists of'two shafts 16 17, spaced apart and mounted for rotation in the casing and carrying drums 18 19, with flanges 20 21 at the ends.

A belt 22, of suitable material, preferably canvas or the like, is connected at the ends to, the drums 18 19 and adapted to be wound from one to the other, the belt to contain the names of the streets or stations in continuous order. The belt 22 is arranged torun overyieldably in contact therewith by springs 29 30 to prevent the belt running too freely from the drums.

Running loosely upon the shafts 16 17 are ratchet-wheels 31 32, the'ratchet-wheel 32, having a clutch member 34.

Slidably disposed upon the shaft 16 and caused to rotate therewith by a feather 35 is a clutch member 36, adapted to be enga ed withand disengaged from the clutch member- 33 on the ratchet-wheel 31, while asimilar Iclutch member 37 is disposed slidably upon theshaft 17 and caused to rotate with the shaft by a feather 38 and adapted to'be engaged with and disen aged'from the clutch member 34 on the rat let-wheel 32.

Mounted to oscillateupon a shaft 39 is a shipper-lever 40,'having forked ends 41 42 engaging shipper-channels in the hubs ofthe clutch members 36 37. Bythis arrangement when the lever 40 is set'in a vertical position the clutch members 36 37 will both be disconnected from their respective clutch members 33 34 and the drums likewise disconnected from the ratchet-wheels. Then if the shipper-lever be moved in one direction the clutch members 33 and 36 will be coupled and the clutchmembers 34 and 37 uncoupled, and when the shipperlever is reversed in position the clutch members 34 37 will be coupled and the clutch members 33 36 uncoupled.

Pivoted at 43 to the casing 15 is an arm 44 and coupled at its free end at 45 to another and coupled at its free end at 53 to another arm 54, swinging upon the shaft 17 and with a pawl 55 carried by the pivot 53 and engaging the ratchet-wheel 32 and held yieldably in engagement therewith by a spring 56.

The ratchet-wheel 32 has a stop-pawl 57 to prevent retrograde movement thereof, and the arm 52 has a spring 58 operating to hold the arm 54 and its pawl indepressed position, as in Fig. 1.

Extending from the casing 15 is a bracket 59, carrying two electromagnets 6O 61, preferably of the solenoid form, with the movable cores 62 63 connected, respectively, at 64 65 to the arms 44 52, so that when the magnets are energized the arms and their attachments will be actuated, as hereinafter explained.

Attached to the bracket 59 are spaced contact-plates 66 67, insulated from each other by a block 68 of rubber, vulcanite, or the like and connected by conductor-wires 70 69, respectively, to the magnets 61 60, the latter in turn connected, as by wires 71 72, to the source of electric energy.

Extending from the shipper-lever 40 is a handle 73, having a contact-arm 74 extending therefrom between the contacts 66' 67 and adapted to' alternately engage the same as the handle is operated or to be held out of contact with both when the handle is in central position. The arm 74 is insulated, as at 80, from the handle 73 and connected by wire 75 to a contact 76 on the trolley-pole 11.

Pivoted at 77 to the trolley-head 12 is a lever-arm 78, one end extending beneath the contact 76 and the other end extending to a point near the trolley-wire 14 and held yieldably in position by a spring 79.

r The free upper end of the arm 78 is held by the trolley-wheel 13 normally out of contact with the trolley-wire 14 while running beneath the unobstructed portion of the same; but when the arm 78 engages one of the depending contacts 9 the arm is depressed thereby and caused to contrast with the member 76 and close the circuit leading through the magnets 60 or 61, as the case may be, the operation to be hereinafter explained.

The belt 22 ,being provided with the names of the streets, stations, or other stoppingplaces in the order of their occurrence, is wound upon one of the drums 18 or 19, as the case may be, with the name of the first street or station toward which the car is moving opposite the glass-covered aperture 25.

For the purpose of illustration it is assumed that the belt is wound upon the drum 19 and unwound from the drum 18 and that the car is to proceed in the direction which will require the streets or stations to be displayed by winding the belt upon the drum 18.

The handle 73 is moved to connect the arm 74 with the contact 67 thus cutting in the magnet 60 and cutting out the magnet 61, this movement of the handle also operating the shipper-lever 40 and closing the clutch 33 36 and opening the clutch 3'4 37 and releasing the drum 19. Then as the car proceeds no effect is produced until the contact arm 78 reaches the first depending memb'er9, when the arm 78 will be depressed thereby and close a circuit through the arm 78, contact 76, wire 75, arm 74, contact 67, wire 69, and magnet 60, energizing the latter and causing the core 62 to depress the lever 44 and cause its awl to rotate the drum 18 a distance equa to one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 31, which correspondingly moves the belt 22 sufliciently to expose the next street or station. I As soon as the arm 78 passes the projection 9 the spring 79 restores the arm to 1ts former :position and again breaks the circuit and permits the spring 50 to restore the arm 44 and its attachments to their former position ready for the next action. =vice will be automatically operated and display the street or station names in the re- Thus the dequired order.

When the end of the route is reached, the

lever 73 is reversed, which also reverses the clutches and the contact-arm 74, the current then being conducted through the mag net 61 and operating the lever-arm 52 and its connections and rotating the drum 19 and winding the belt in the reverse order.

The device is simple in construction and can be readily adapted to the diiferent sys tems of electric railways or trainways, as will abe obvious.

The projections 9 areso' slight that they do not interfere with the troll ey-wheels 1 3, which of said arms and respectively engaging said with said magnets and with which the @011 tact connected to said lateral arm is adapted to be alternately engaged as the lever is operated, and a circuit-closing means associated with said lateral-arm contact.

2. In an indicator of the class described, an inclosing casing, two spaced .shafts rotative in said casing and provided with drums carrying an indicator-belt, a clutch member loose upon each of said shafts, an opposing clutch member slidabl'e upon each of said shafts and rotative therewith, a ratchetwheel attached to each of said loosely-disposed clutch members, an arm swinging upon each of said shafts, arms swinging from said casing and movably coupled at their free ends to the free ends of the arms swinging from said shafts, pawls swinging from the joints between said arms and adapted to engage said ratchet-wheels, electromagnets having armatures movably associated therewith andcoupled to the arms swinging from the casing, spaced contacts in electrical connection respectively with said electromagnets, a lever swinging between said slidable clutch members and movably coupled to the same and provided with a lateral arm, a contact member carried by said lateral arm and in electrical connection with the source of electric energy and adapted to be alternately engaged with said spaced contacts and thereby alternately energize said magnets, and a circuit-closing means associated with the contact connected to said lateral arm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN W. WILLSON. 

